Stephen Harper is Prime Minister of Canada.

Mr. Harper is a control freak, imho. Scientists cannot speak to media without checking their scripts first. Cabinet members appear to be all yes-men. Environmental protections are inconvenient delays to resource (read, tar, gas, oil and ore) projects.

But that’s not enough. We need more police and spy powers.

Here you will find BBC’s take on our proposed new terror laws, which Mr. Harper will get passed due to his majority in our ‘government.’

Here are some of the new provisions. Italics are quotes from the hotlinked page above.

• anyone suspected of being involved in a terror plot may be detained without charge for up to seven days
• officials may remove material considered terrorist propaganda from any website
• Canada’s spy agency may direct approach subjects and cancel travel reservations, with judicial approval

You will note that ‘judicial approval’ only appears in one bullet above. Expect that to be watered down as well.

May I point out that ‘suspected’ can mean what any gun-toting enforcement officer thinks it means. Remember how our police, defending Mr. Harper’s G20 summit, found it necessary to kettle a large crowd in the rain at Spadina and College, kilometres away from the seven metre fence. Remember how they found it necessary to ride horses over demonstrators in the ‘designated demonstration area’ kilometres away from that same seven metre fence. Remember how it was impossible to identify cops who removed their identification, until the Toronto Star did it on Page 1? and, finally, remember that the police officer convicted of beating Adam Nobody will serve no jail time, and will probably be armed and patrolling again any day now?

I don’t need to beat to death the word ‘considered’ in bullet two above. I’m sure you can figure out exactly how ‘interpretable’ that will be.

Here’s the saddest quote from the BBC news item:

Canada’s two main opposition parties have said they have not decided whether to back the bill, the CBC reports.

Today’s dumb questions are for Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair, opposition party leaders. Ready?

Are both of you utterly gutless? Isn’t there a core principle here that you should uphold, and vote against this bill? Should you not be causing a lot of public debate?

A final quote from the BBC article:

Among the critics of the bill are the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association which called the legislation “misguided” and said it would not make Canadians “any safer”. “We will be less free, less democratic and less likely to know who to keep an eye on,” policy director Michael Vonn said, adding it was “likely unconstitutional”.

Being unconstitutional has rarely bothered the Harper government. Witness the mess-up, deliberate imho, in the ‘new’ ‘prostitution’ laws.

Comments, anyone? Feel like contacting your MP? Your newspaper? Please?